The planning session was underway. Half an hour later everything was decided.

Sean, Danny, Ashley, Mary-Kate, Amy and I, were going to go up to the surface in 3 days. It was pretty soon but I was excited about it.

There was so much to do! We started packing some supplies, getting the right tools, food...

I was packing some supplies with Sean and I had the feeling something was wrong.

"You ok man?" I asked him, a little concerned. Last thing we needed was a distracted team member.

"I'm fine." He said. Needless to say I didn't believe him.

"Riiiiight." I said.

"I'm just worried about Mary-Kate." He admitted.

"She'll be fine" I reassured him "Even so, there's nothing we can do about her coming, you know how stubborn she is!"

"Besides, Ashley will be coming with us and she can keep an eye on Mary-Kate." I said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Sean said, still not fully relieved of his worry.

Amy walked in and joined us.

"Hey guys," She said cheerfully.

"Hey Amy." I said "Anything new?"

"Not really." She shrugged. She came and helped us get our supplies ready.

"What do you think it will be like up there?" Sean asked.

"I think it will be weird up there. Could be a barren place without trees or anything." I admitted. "How about you Amy?"

She looked up and thought for a minute. "I think it will be a beautiful place. Mother Nature will have re-grown her forests all lush and green."

"Always the optimistic one, eh Aimes?" Sean smirked.

"I also believe that some of the animals survived and are adapting to their new homes." She smiled.

I always liked that about Amy. Even in the worst times, she always looked on the bright side of things and brought smiles to our faces.

...Ashley...

The day has come! And so typically I have that song stuck on my head, it's by this band my parents used to listen to, hmmm.

Well the day has come to where I've never thought of anyone Quite as much as I think of you As the days go by I never wonder why I just know it's true Well the day has come Well the day has come (lyric credit: Hanson, day has come)

We were all meeting in the entrance to the shelter. It was musky and covered with dust. No one had come close to this section of the shelter since we were locked in those years ago.

The team all stood together in a sort of huddle.

"This is it." Sean said, "Everybody ready?"

We all nodded

"Who's gonna open the door?" Damien asked glancing at it, he looked a little nervous now that the moment was here.

"I will" Sean said walking over to it.

This was it!

"Who died and made you special?" Danny objected. "I want to open the door!"

Sean looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. He stepped back and extended his arms in the direction of the door. "Go ahead."

Danny smirked and stepped towards the door.

He turned the steering wheel type handle, and the door opened with a loud squeak, on the other side was a small room, the main feature of which was a ladder leading to the surface.

Danny glanced up nervously, you could tell her wanted to be first for the sake of it, but didn't wanna be first if their was trouble.

"Well are you going to go up?" Amy asked.

"Well," Danny said nervously. "I don't want to take all the glory. You go, Sean, since I opened the door and all."

Sean walked up to the ladder. He turned to Danny, "My hero." He said sarcastically.

"I want to go up next." Mary-Kate said.

"See you soon." Sean said to Mary-Kate with a smile.

He climbed up the ladder and we heard another metallic squeak and a bang. "I'm ok. I just opened the latch." We heard him say.

It was silence after that for a few agonizing minutes. We thought something happened, but then we heard Sean. "All clear!"

Mary-Kate smiled and raced to the ladder.

***Sean***

Mary-Kate soon appeared at the opening of the shelter and I helped her up. She looked around with the wonder of a child. I put my arm around her as we both looked around.Chapter 5